"I Need You Now. More Than Ever."

Regardless if she was understandably troubled or not, Clyde knew Duffy was being Duffy. He didn't appreciate the shove but kept walking while the scot continued to rave, brushing aside her comments as no big deal and not worth getting into it over.

"Bonnie's girl, Duffy Macbain. She's harmless." He said bluntly. "But I dun' know if she's try ta' tell me ta' get lost by the time she gets back or what." He added before giving a shrug and grabbing Mercy's hand to pulling her along.

-------------

Clyde nearly rushed the door, he didn't stop, part of him was scared to open the door but he forced himself to just go through the hesitation and his heart sank deeper and deeper as he waited to get a clear picture of his sister. Finally he saw Bonnie on the bed with her hospital gown, her head wrapped in bandages, her right leg in a brace. The majority of her torso was also wrapped up, but the gown hid that.

"...Bon?" Clyde muttered, honestly unable to tell if she was awake or in pain or...

Bonnie suddenly turned her head, saw it was Clyde and smiled pleasantly. "Hey..!" She said just as brightly but with a noticeably raspy voice Clyde slumped forward with a surprised grin before letting go of Mercy and going to hug his sister, very glad to see that while she had been hurt, she appeared to still be her usual self and appeared to be okay. It was impossible for Clyde to keep his eyes dry.

"O-Ow-Ow! Easy man. B-Back hurts." Bonnie rasped through a chuckle, unwilling to turn to the side because of leg and back pain. "Oh." Clyde backed up immediately, feeling waves of relief still go over him.

"Bonnie... I'm sorry I..." Clyde began to say before Bonnie shot her hand up and jabbed her finger in front of his face. "Don't you even start, boy. I dun' wanna hear it. Ya' did watcha could, man." Bonnie rasped through her cracking voice, Clyde had no way of knowing Jocelyn be there. Bonnie would never point the finger him anyway, rather she blamed herself, she barely did anything against Allison and put herself in that predicament to be jumped.

Clyde did blame himself for not being able to help Bonnie more but... His guilt ran deeper than Bonnie knew. There was more to it.

"Another thing, man." Bonnie began to say as she gave Clyde a serious look. "...You been smokin'?" She asked sternly Clyde eyes shifted to the side. [size=85:1jfiqio2]"Lil' bit." He said quietly, caught red handed.

Bonnie shook her head and just sighed. "Boy If I wasn't up in this hospital bed, I'd whoop yo' ass raw." She declared lightly hardheartedly. "Go brush ya' teeth, man. Use the mouthwash too." Bonnie said, leaving Clyde to slump his shoulders and follow orders without a complaint, walking just in front of Mercy to give her a coy gaze before he walked into the bathroom and began to clean his mouth free of the taint and smell of the cigs.

---------------

Bonnie watched her brother step inside and made sure she heard the water running before she looked over and saw a lil' pink haired cutie-pie standing in the doorway. Bonnie gave her the brightest, friendliest smile she could muster.

"Well howdy! You must be Mercy..." Bonnie shakily raised her left arm to extend her hand towards the paralegal. It didn't hurt to do it, but it took some effort, but Bonnie was stubborn and didn't care, she wanted to properly greet the woman dating her brother. She just wished their meeting could have been under better circumstances. A simple get together like a cookout, nothing like this. It made her feel like a burden for making things unpleasant for everyone around her.

"I'm Bonnie."

Once Clyde said the name, Mercy knew who it was. Duffy didn't do a lot of regular wrestling so she wasn't really as up to date on her as she should be. But that was that. It seemed like she was pretty upset and taking it out on ... everyone. Mercy wasn't going to let it get to her. She definitely wasn't going to start a fight with Bonnie's girlfriend either so she let Clyde tug her along.

She remained quiet when Clyde began to speak to Bonnie. She carefully looked her over. She was cute in person and looked like a female version of Clyde. She was cute. She looked to Clyde. A lot cuter than he was.... If the two were switched, Mercy might not have as many issues as she did.

But she pushed those thoughts aside. She was glad she was doing ok and she seemed to be a much calmer person than Clyde. She even scolded him for smoking and Mercy covered her lips to stifle a small chuckle. She winked at Bonnie when they made eye contact and watched as Clyde went off to brush his teeth.

"Mercy Wrenn, nice to meet you." Mercy said holding out her hand to give Bonnie's hand a dainty shake. "I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances." She then looked at the bathroom door. "Clyde got it from me about the smoking as well. I'm certainly not kissing an ashtray." She said and smiled.

Mercy then tilted her head. "How are you doing? I know what that Allison woman is capable of but seems like she really went after you pretty roughly." Mercy said frowning.

Bonnie shook Mercy's hand with a soft grip. "I'm sorry too. I've been meaning to meet 'cha for a while. My brother's spoken quite a bit about ya." Bonnie said pleasantly, only to grin when Mercy talked about kissing an ashtray.

"Oh Girl I knoow! I hate the smell and it's just...Eugh... Hate it." Bonnie dated a couple of guys who dipped and she slugged most of them for doing that crap when she asked them to lay off of it when they were with her. "But you go head on, girl. You tell em!" Bonnie encouraged proudly. She liked Mercy already if she was scolding Clyde to get off smoking again. Meanwhile in the bathroom, the Cowboy was rolling his eyes, last thing he wanted was people all on his case.

"Eh. This ain't nuthin'." Bonnie dismissed with a soft wave. "My leg's jacked up, my throat feels tight, my back hurts real bad, my head is ringing..." Bonnie muttered with a dissapointed and bothered tone before she looked at Mercy. "And I'll be doin' backflips in a couple weeks." She mused with a wink.

"This just wasn't how i planned my return to Friction to be like. She was strong, real strong."

"It's ok." Mercy said, shaking her head. "When you're out of the hospital, maybe the four of us can have a double date or something." Mercy said and looked back.

"Um... is your G-F always so... grumpy?" She asked. She really didn't know much about Duffy other than what it said on the file. She shrugged it off and looked back at Bonnie. "Don't worry about Clyde, I'm keeping him on the straight and narrow. Booze is for casual occasions, certainly no smoking spiffy suits and hopefully he'll be back in the ranks of the scholarly soon enough. He might lay on the machismo a little thick but he's a good guy. If he has a proper education, maybe when he's done wrestling he'll be able to have a career he's satisfied with. Not everyone needs to be a doctor or a lawyer, as long as they are happy." Mercy shrugged.

"Anyway, that woman isn't tough. She's just good at getting into people's heads. She's crafty and knows how to use psychological warfare. I make a living dealing with her but for someone who thinks an obstacle can just be torn down, she'll chew you up and spit you out.' Mercy said with a nod. "That's what your brother thinks he can do and if he doesn't chill out, he'll be in the bed next to you." He said, informing Bonnie.

Bonnie smiled pleasantly at the mentioned a double date. "Yeah that sounds nice." She said, keeping her pleasant demeanor even when Mercy asked about Duffy's attitude. "She's actually pretty upbeat most of the time." Bonnie stated with a grin before she heard Mercy begin to talk about her brother and how she had him wrangled. Bonnie just nodded along but her eyes widened at every sentence. It was like everything she wanted for Clyde was happening!

"A little thick?" Bonnie raised her brow and gave Mercy a coy look. Haha... Girl, I like ya' already. I completely agree with what yer sayin' and all yer' doin." Bonnie said with a wink. Bonnie really did like this Mercy girl already, she was smart, pretty and seemed to care a lot about her brother to do all these things. Such a nice girl, Bonnie thought.

Meanwhile... In the bathroom, Clyde had his eyes trailing upwards. "I'm in the same damn room, y'all." He thought while scrubbing away, eventually turning the water on, unable to hear the conversation from this point on...

Allison was now brought up Bonnie looked at Mercy with a serious gaze, listening to her every word she had to say about the British woman, grimacing when Mercy mentioned the woman's use of psychological warfare. Bonnie shifted her gaze and looked up at the blank, white ceiling above. "That a fact..?" She asked aloud. Bonnie was beginning to understand and bittersweet relief began to come over her.

She snapped out of her contemplation when Mercy said "...he'll be in the bed next to you" Bonnie turned her head towards Mercy swiftly. "Huh?" Bonnie asked in a slightly startled manner before she realized she jumped the gun. "Oh. Yeah. That wouldn't be good at all!" She declared before she began to think.

"Hmm... Then what do you suggest? I'm scared he gon' get double teamed by Allison and that other chick." Bonnie said, frowning at the mere thought of Jocelyn.

Mercy beamed as she quickly earned Bonnie's approval. not that she was trying. She was just being nice. It came hand and hand and she absentmindedly twirled a lock of her pink hair as she talked with the female twin. "I mean... not Allison, specifically. But her kind. Before I got this job, I worked for Lukretia's personal attorney. Until she fired her... us...." Mercy frowned briefly.

"Yeah. No one here wants Clyde to get hurt." Mercy said. "For now, we need to try and keep him on a leash. I don't know if that's possible, but he needs to understand no matter how courageous he thinks he is, his bravado is exactly what will get him in trouble. I know some things about Allison though. I know where she works outside of the AFW. I could know other things as well..." She said turning her head. "The best thing to do is to make sure that her and that Jocelyn girl aren't together when you spring a trap." Mercy said. 'But then, there's getting the right kind of trap and the right kind of bait as well." Mercy brought her finger to her chin in thought.

"Lukretia? Oooh man I heard some bad things bout that lass." Bonnie said, wondering if Mercy getting fired from that position was more of a blessing than anything. But she wondered what Mercy meant by 'Us'.

Anyway, the Texan girl nodded along Mercy, no one wanted Clyde hurt and that his bravado could get him big trouble. "Sounds ta' me you might need ta' hammer that in his thick head." Bonnie mused, feeling Clyde needed to hear that more. But it was at that point, Clyde sprang out of the bathroom with a visible frown. He had been minty fresh for a couple seconds and heard enough to get him riled up.

"Traps?" He scoffed from the bathroom before marching towards Mercy. "Y'all actin' like I can't fight, man! I ain't scared of neither of em'. I'll just take em' on one at a time and that's gon' be it! No big deal." He declared. It was simple in his eyes and it wasn't cool to be sneaky at something like this.

Mercy frowned when Clyde walked out of the bathroom. "No, Clyde. You're acting like you can just stomp around until you find one of them and beat them up. Neither of them will fight you in the ring, even if you call them out. They are Friction wrestlers. And not stupid. You're going to need to use your head!" Mercy said with a huff.

Mercy shook her head. "Besides, you're getting Bonnie worked up. What is she supposed to do if you end up in the hospital? What am I going to do?" Mercy motioned towards Bonnie. "She was the one who got put her and she's in the best spirits of anyone here. If anyone should be pissed off, it's [i]her and she's not." Mercy looked at Bonnie and tilted his head. "Shouldn't it be her decision whether she or anyone goes after those two on her behalf?" Mercy said, crossing her arms.

"...Uh." Clyde muttered as Mercy got him to be quiet and listen, having a rather surprised and bewildered look on his face. They wouldn't accept his challenge if he called them out? Clyde didn't see how anyone could turn down being called out.

His head slumped forward as he grimaced. "Use my head..?" He groaned with disappointment. Meanwhile, Bonnie was nodding along with everything Mercy had to say. The girl was smart and made a lot of sense. Bonnie even gave Clyde a look that showcased her backing of Mercy's statements.

"He doesn't care if he gets hurt, Mercy. Well... I don't worry too much 'bout ma'self neither. But we always worry about the other and Clyde I really don't want to see them hurt you." Bonnie expressed sincerely.

"I want nothin more than ta' get even with both them bitches but right now I cain't do nuthin' except wait. And believe it or not it's takin' a lot of effort ta' keep my cool... That and I think the nurses gave me somethin'... Anyway, I ain't crippled, man. Thank the lord. So I WILL get better but Mercy knows what she's talkin' about. Listen to her! For me... I wanna get even too. I'd be left empty if I didn't any payback for ma'self... Please wait me, brother." Said Bonnie in a soft pleading tone.

Clyde frowned bitterly, growling quietly as he cliched his fist tightly. He couldn't be patient. It was unbearable waiting. "At least leave one of 'em fer me. I can't really pick one 'cause lord knows I hate both." Bonnie added, trying to think of who screwed her over more. Jocelyn was starting to come to mind.

Clyde let out a deep exhale through his nose as he tried to calm down. "Fine... What do we do, Mercy? What do I do? He huffed, just trying to breathe it out.

Mercy shook her head. "Well... something you're not going to like." She said. "Wait until your sister gets better." She said matter-of-factly. There's no way that going after them now isn't completely selfish, Clyde." She said, her tone becoming stern as she scolded him.